SHERIFF TOMPKINS ATTENDS NECAT’S CULINARY ARTS SHOWCASE

Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins recently attended a culinary arts showcase at the
New England Center for Arts and Technology in Boston. The purpose of the event was for students
of the organization’s culinary arts program to showcase their work by preparing food from
various countries and cultures for members of the community.

NECAT is a career–directed educational non–profit created to serve resource–limited
adults and youth in Boston. The organization offers targeted job training for adults and arts programs
for youth to help prepare both to obtain career–ladder jobs in expanding and emerging employment
sectors. NECAT’s culinary arts program is just one of many job training programs that the organization
has instituted in order to fulfill its goal of providing paths to economic stability and securing promising
futures for students, their families and the community.

At the showcase, Sheriff Tompkins talked to some of the students about their projects and tasted dishes
from various parts of the world. He later expressed the importance of the work NECAT is doing with the community.

“I’m always happy to visit [NECAT],” said Sheriff Tompkins. “This really is a great
program that provides members of the community the opportunity to better themselves and do something productive
with their lives, and that in turn affects their families as well. The showcase was great and I’m glad that
others are getting the chance to see what this program is and why it’s important. I, for one, appreciate the
fact that it’s providing people in the community one more alternative to criminal activity – an alternative
that just may be the one thing to lead someone in the right direction.”

For more information about the New England Center for Arts and Technology, please visitwww.ne-cat.org.